Automatic handling systems for vials containing pharmaceutical products are not new per se. There are a variety of known systems and apparatus for high speed, automated processing of vials for pharmaceutical products. For example, The West Company, Incorporated, assignee of the present application, has a line of equipment for automatic capping of pharmaceutical vials and equipment for washing and sterilizing vials at high production rates. However, there are still some operations which are done manually. For example, there is a line of test equipment for checking particulate matter and seal integrity where the vials are manually positioned in place during the test operation. In other instances, it may be necessary to manually place vials in special trays for certain processes, such as lyophilization or sterilization.